CHAPTER 4 – The Key Beneath the Pillow
CHAPTER 4 – The Key Beneath the Pillow
The silver key rested in Maya's trembling palm.
Tiny.
Cold.
Decorated with a black raven carved into its handle.
Dominic stared at it for several seconds.
Then every trace of emotion disappeared from his face.
"Leave us."
Every servant.
Every doctor.
Every guard.
Gone within seconds.
Only Maya remained.
"You recognize it," she said.
Dominic nodded once.
"I hoped I never would."
He walked toward an old fireplace.
From behind a painting, he removed a small steel box.
Inside were photographs.
Documents.
And another identical silver key.
Maya frowned.
"There's another one?"
"There were three."
His voice became distant.
"My father made them."
"Only three people were ever meant to possess them."
"Who?"
"My father."
"My older brother."
"And me."
Maya looked up.
"What do they open?"
Dominic didn't answer immediately.
Instead he placed both keys side by side.
"The vault beneath this mansion."
"A vault containing every secret my family has buried for forty years."
Maya felt a chill.
"If someone was searching under Alessia's pillow..."
"They weren't looking for her."
"They were looking for this."
He lifted the key.
"But how did they know?"
Neither of them noticed—
Alessia was awake.
Quietly listening.
She whispered,
"The lady told me."
Both adults turned instantly.
"What lady?" Maya asked gently.
Alessia's lips trembled.
"The pretty lady."
"She smelled like flowers."
"She always came after Papa went to work."
Dominic's face lost all color.
"There is no lady."
"There is now," Alessia replied.
"She brushed my hair."
"She read me stories."
"She said Mommy sent her."
The room fell silent.
Maya knelt beside the bed.
"What else did she say?"
Alessia closed her eyes, trying to remember.
"She asked if I knew where Grandpa hid the bird."
Dominic stopped breathing.
The bird.
Not the key.
The bird.
Only members of the DeLuca family knew that "the bird" was the nickname for a ledger containing decades of secret alliances, payments, betrayals, and names powerful enough to destroy politicians, judges, and crime syndicates alike.
It had vanished the night Dominic's father died.
Everyone believed it had been destroyed.
Apparently...
Someone believed otherwise.
And they believed a six-year-old child knew where it was.
An hour later, Dominic ordered a complete lockdown of the estate.
Every servant was questioned.
Every security camera reviewed.
Every employee searched.
Nothing.
No woman matching Alessia's description had entered the mansion.
According to the cameras...
She had never existed.
Near dawn, Maya couldn't sleep.
Something bothered her.
She walked back into Alessia's room.
The little girl was drawing with crayons.
She held up the picture proudly.
"I made this."
Maya smiled.
"It's beautiful."
Then she looked closer.
The drawing showed—
A little girl.
A woman with long hair.
A man in a black suit.
And...
Another man standing in the background.
His face had been scribbled over with black crayon.
"Who's that?" Maya asked softly.
Alessia whispered,
"I don't know."
"He told me never to look at his face."
A chill ran through Maya's body.
She turned the paper over.
On the back, written in careful block letters that no six-year-old should have been able to imitate, were five chilling words:
HE LIVES INSIDE YOUR HOUSE.
At that exact moment...
The mansion's lights went out.
Every security monitor went black.
Somewhere in the darkness—
May you like
A gunshot echoed through the estate.
Then came a scream.
